Affirmative action was intended to ensure that all Americans are treated without regard to race. Today, public officials and educators justify using special treatment based on race to make up for past discrimination and to foster diversity. Stories of the victims of racial preferences, however, reveal the hidden consequences of these well-intentioned efforts to manufacture racial balance. Racial preferences are a form of discrimination, and they stigmatize those whose accomplishments are not due to such preferences. Race-based discrimination policies continue to undermine the American Dream, and the only way to end the vicious cycle of discrimination is to ensure that fair and equal treatment for everyone is a reality, not just a talking point.